Hello, I'm trying to find out my Grandfathers war history. After receiving his service records I was very disappointed at the lack of information. This is what I know: Stanley Andrew Davenport 7646974 Fitter in the ROAC enlisted 1940. Transferred to the REME WEF 1.10.1942. Embarked for North Africa 29.10.1942 Record reads: DS/M/122 serial 31017 Embarked North Africa 29 Oct 42 The next entry reads: Embarked for leave UK 9.7.1945 And thats it! Somewhere between 1942 and 1945 he acquired the following Medals: - African Star (BNAF 44OA/44 - 1st Army clasp (CMF 2161A/44) - 1939/45 Italian Star - Defence medal The only other information I have is a photo of him labelled Bari 1944 and some vague family talk about Monte Cassino. I am at a loss as how to proceed. Can anyone point me in the right direction? How can I discover in which battles he was involved and what role he played? Thank you... Iain
Expat1968- according to those dates - he embarked for North Africa on 29th Oct 1942 - to land somewhere - suspect Algiers in or around November 8th in the Operation Torch - and as he was with a REME unit at that time - I would suspect 6th Armoured Division - from there - if that is so -he then went on to Italy by Feb 1944 in time for the 2nd Cassino Battle with the Kiwi's and then through the Liri Valley - on to Florence and then over to the final battles at the Argenta Gap and the chase into Austria from whence he was sent home in the July of '45 -on 28 days leave called LIAP - the picture of him in "South Italy " would jive with that as they landed at Naples......any other clues ?? Cheers
Expat 1968- other thoughts - he seems to be wearing a "twirly" bit on his cap badge - which might indicate an Irish regiment and Bari being a fair way from Naples - he MIGHT have been with 78th Division of which elements of that Div landed at Bari after their stint in Sicily - and again having landed at Algiers in Nov '42 with Torch - one point of confusion might be that the Irish bde was attached to 6th Armoured Div in North Africa but were switched near the end of that campaign with the Guards who stayed with 6th mainly through Italy whereas the Irish 38th Bde joined 78th for Sicily !...so we still need more clues .. Cheers
Thank you all so much for your help. I have just found my Grandfathers Service and Pay book and his Soldiers Release Book Class "A". This is all I could pluck from these documents: In the pay book: A&S Gp 24c Serial No4, Serial Roll R5/REME/106 Additional information Medals: African Star: D2E Pt II, D440/A date 8.3.44 1st Army Clasp: D2E Pt II, D2161A date 7th Sept 44 Awarded Italian Star in accordance with GRO 793/43 Awarded 1939-45 Star in accordance with GRO 793/45 Additionally I have 2 Airgraph Christmas cards both of which has an address for Stanely as No8 Port Workshop REME Unfortunately that is the last of what I can find. Its amazing how little information there is in his service records. After the war his territorial army records are incredibly complete and detailed. Thanks again Iain
One last point, its is rumored in the family that at Monte Cassino he was driving supplies to the front lines and bringing the wounded back. They say he had to repair a truck while strapped underneath the moving vehicle. It is also rumored that he carved his name into a tower in Palermo in Sicily. All unsubstantiated gossip but it might help.
Its amazing how little information there is in his service records. Hi Iain, Welcome to the forum. I was initially disappointed when I received my father's records but the more I studied them, the more I found. A lot of the info is obscured inside army jargon/abbreviations. If you would like to post some photos of the actual pages of his records you might be surprised what others can dig out of them for you. Best regards, Tom.
Expat- as MOD says - try publishing his records as there might be some other clues there - families tend to exaggerate things slightly at times and the tale of his taking supplies up to Cassino and bringing wounded back is a bit of a tall one as that was the task of the RASC - not REME - as is the tale of Palermo as that was strictly an American town...but you never know both 6th Armoured and 78th served at Cassino but I am beginning to think that perhaps he was in the port of Bari as base workshops - any dates on those Christmas cards ? Cheers
Thanks Tom and MyOldDad, I will scan in the service pages tonight and publish them. The Christmas cards are dated 1944 and 1943. My grandfather started out as driver/fitter in the ROAC. According to my father, he was part of a small 20 man team responsible for taking supplies to the front lines at Monte Cassino and bringing the injured back. My father said that after the war the remaining members of this group met up regularly to talk about old times. There is also mention of Sidi Barrani, but this seems unlikely as 'COMPASS' took place in 1940. I hope people will find something in the service records I missed. Would the REME historians be able to help? I found a website for their record office.
Expat1968 from the dates on both of those Christmas cards where both show the address at being Port Base #8 - assuming Bari - that is a long time to be stationery particularly when the war had advanced from the Ortona Battles('43)- Cassino Dec '43- May'44) to way past Rimini ('44) so I am already discounting Sidi Barrani not because of Compass('40)- and most probably Palermo - but he didn't arrive in North Africa until the 8th Army was at Tripoli (Nov '42)- so we are doing a lot of guessing here and family legends are creeping in - scan the records there might be something there that is missing at this time. Cheers
Thanks for all the advice. Will scan the 4 pages of his service record tomorrow. My aunt just sent me a letter my grandfather wrote dated 29.6.1944 it has the address 908 Port Workshop REME CMA. In it he describes that he is next to a beach with an authorized ice cream stall and that he has had a lot of dealings with Black American Soldiers (he'd never met a Black person before). Maybe this information is useless but thought I'd post it on the off chance.
I see from the info that Expat1968 hasn't been on the forum since 2010, but while searching google for REME and Palermo, this thread showed up. I've recently discovered that 20 Workshop Coy, REME were in Palermo in October 1943 - waiting for the nod to move to Naples once accommodation there was organised.
